As much as USC’s 49-10 season-opening victory over Hawaii on Saturday could have been best described as gift-wrapped, it’s probably not the phrase that the Trojans’ compliance officers would like to have it tagged this morning.

Yeah, that’ll just send up more red flags.

You could be mumbling to yourself about more reported revelations of improper benefits threatening to blindside the Trojans program again.

Do that, and you’ll distract yourself from breaking down what the team’s key players admit is plenty of room for improvement.

The only conclusions left to draw up on the first day of this group’s pledge to take care of unfinished business could have started at just before before 7 p.m. Saturday, or right about when the Trojans were heading into the locker room with a 35-0 halftime lead thanks to a field goal by a kicker most had already thought left the building.

We’re thinking Marqise Lee may have spun, sprinted and sparkled his way past Matt Barkley in the minds of those who update Heisman Trophy websites every couple of minutes. And that was before his third-quarter, Anthony Davis-like 100-yard kickoff return.

We’re wondering if Silas Redd is more LenDale White or Reggie Bush. The Penn State transfer can churn into the line and pick up yards, but he can also come up short on fourth-and-one. Then, as a receiver in the open field, the ball can be dislodged at an inopportune time.

We’re quite impressed with a defensive line that showed some attitude from junior Morgan Breslin and freshmen Leonard Williams and Greg Townsend Jr.

And by the time this season ends, we’re almost positive that this special-teams unit, whether forced to or not by an injured kicker, may never make a two-point conversion. Never, ever.

In front of a good handful of the 93,607 sellout crowd had already started heading for dinner plans, some still sporting their “You Can’t Sanction The End Zone” T-shirts from a year ago, they had a pretty good hunch that the No. 1 team in the polls had a victory tucked away, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 LSU were already cruising, and No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Oregon were next up on the TV screens.

Let the insta-Twitter comparison shopping begin. It’s become a Labor Day weekend staple.

“We’re just glad to be 1-0, because a lot of teams aren’t,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said.

He must have been thinking of poor, poor Norm Chow and Hawaii.

Barkley, for all he seems to need to prove to himself and Heisman voters, started the game with the greatest misjudgment of his senior season. He thought he could hit Lee on a quick toss to the left flat on the first play from scrimmage, pick up a couple of yards, and get the rhythm of the offense moving forward.

The sophomore took a stutter step, created space, and sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown just 14 seconds into the season of redeption.

That might have sounded like a statement, but it was almost cause for thinking this was going to be too easy.

Barkley had 215 yards passing by the end of the first quarter, but the guess is that hardly any of it was generated beyond the line of scrimmage. The 35 points he orchestrated weren’t enough to make him totally happy.

“We left a lot of points on the table,” he said. “I feel we could have got 100 points in the first half.”

Still, he stuck around until after the first series of the fourth quarter, for one final scoring drive capped by a fourth-down TD toss to tight end Randall Telfer.

Barkley was in agreement with teammate Robert Woods, who he found for two TD passes – this offensive effort was of the C-plus/B-minus grading.

“That sounds right,” said Barkley.

Even as the 372 passing yards he racked up – with fourth touchdowns, no interceptions and barely being touched by the opposition – look nice enough in the rankings of other Heisman contenders.

So will Lee’s 197 receiving yards on 10 grabs, and his 297 all-purpose yards, thanks to that kickoff return that was almost as long as the five kickoff returns Hawaii had as a team.

Still, he was grumbling about two key dropped passes.

“Matt put the ball right in my hands,” said Lee. “I expect to make those catches in a game. We practice them all summer and spring.”

Barkley even seemed a bit frustrated with Lee at one point, barking at him after avoiding a fourth-quarter sack.

Tom Hoffarth is a freelancer. He had been with the Daily News/Southern California News Group since 1992 as a general assignment sports reporter, columnist and specialist in the sports media. He has been honored by the Associated Press for sports columnists and honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association for his career work. His favorite sportscaster of all time: Vin Scully, for professional and personal reasons. He considers watching Zenyatta win the Breeders' Cup 2009 Classic to be the most memorable sporting event he has covered in his career. Go figure that.